


No Doubt

by Freekish



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Backstory, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 06:04:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4424162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freekish/pseuds/Freekish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean really has no doubt in his mind that Eren is going to be around for a while.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Doubt

**Author's Note:**

> I've been in this block writing an on-going fic but I didn't want to lose the motivation to write so I've been writing tons of small snippets of other AUs whenever they pop into my head. I swear I have probably over 20 rough AUs hanging out in a doc on my computer. Some are thousands of words, others are just a few hundred, and then there are those that are incomplete thoughts, like random conversations that are only a few lines. I don't know but I can't keep them all in my head.
> 
> This was originally a backstory for a domestic AU that got way out of hand. This was only suppose to like 4 paragraphs, tops! And look what happened. I got a little carried away.
> 
> And I don't know what's going on with me the past few days but all I've been writing is fluffy sap, which is not usually the route my brain goes when it comes to Jean and Eren but, oh well.
> 
> Here...have some fluff. Sorry for any mistakes. I'm letting this one loose without a lot of editing, sorry!

There was no doubt really. 

There was no doubt amongst their friends.

No doubt from their parents and families.

Pretty sure after a while even strangers could look at them and see what those close to them saw.

And whenever people asked them, it was never “if” or “are you—“. It was “when”.

\- - -

Since day one when they finally got their act together and started dating, people saw right away that they just worked. Yeah they bickered from time to time but that’s just how their relationship was. It took Jean over a year to realized all the teasing, arguing and slightly insulting nicknames was Eren’s way of flirting (granted it still had to be pointed out by Ymir who was so done watching both of them get denser by the minute). Eren always joked about being a non-traditional flirt, and Jean finally understood what he meant. 

Eren officially asked Jean out on Halloween their senior year of college. There was no grand gesture, if anything Ymir kind of forced him to do it. 

Ymir got the late shift, on the night of Halloween, at the bar she worked at a little ways from the college campus. So their group of friends went to hang around bar for the night. Jean was the first to get there, Ymir was pouring his drink when a hand ruffled the hair on the top of his head and a warm body sat on the stool beside him. Jean scowled at Eren while fixing his hair mumbling under his breath how he must be crazy to have a crush on this guy. 

The night went on. More of their friends stopped by the bar, some staying longer than others. Eren was three drinks in, starting to feel the effects in his system, feeling just a wee bit tipsy. And a slightly tipsy Eren is a flirty Eren, so naturally he stuck close to Jean and brought up any topic that would rile Jean up a bit. Ymir just finished pouring Eren’s fourth drink when he pats her arm and calls her a doll. The freckled girl laughs at him and shakes her head as she reaches for Jean’s empty glass.

By now, Jean’s caught on to the fact that Eren compliments a lot of his friends, and gives them playful nicknames, but not Jean.

“Out of all your friends, why am I the only one given a ‘nickname’ that’s an insult?” he finally asks.

Eren’s cheeks collect a dusting of pink, but Jean imagines that it’s just the alcohol in his system. Ymir hasn’t even finished filling Jean’s glass before she slams it down on the counter cackling behind the bar. 

“Oh my god, he really is that dense,” she says to herself. Eren is quiet.

“What?” Jean asks like he’s missed out on a joke.

Ymir stage whispers to Jean “Let’s just say Eren is really bad at flirt—” 

Eren butts in to try and save himself. “Thank you, Ymir!” 

He gives her a look that says he’s got it and he’ll take it from there. Ymir is still laughing as she walks to the other end of the bar to help another customer.

The flustered brunette hides his face in his hands so he doesn’t have to look at Jean beside him who is looking back and forth between him and Ymir.

“ _You_ —this whole time you’ve been flirting with me?” 

“Yes Jean,” he sighs, puling his hands away from his face.

Jean’s glad none of their friends are paying attention to any of this because he just sat there with his mouth open, gaping like a fish, trying to find his words. It is not very often that Eren leaves him intentionally speechless. 

The awkward moment passes and Jean shakes his head of the fog before he slightly leans into Eren’s space.

“Who the hell flirts by arguing and insulting people!?” 

Eren shrugs, “I do.” He watches Jean reach for his drink to take a sip. “I thought you caught on a while ago because you gave me the impression you were flirting back, even when we weren’t fighting.”

Jean feels a little stupid knowing he was _that_ obvious that Eren saw past his facade and realized he was flirting and yet here he sits just figuring out that Eren had been doing the same. His heart rate picks up when he feels Eren’s foot on the foot rest on his stool and the brunette scoots a little closer to the edge of the seat he’s sitting on.

“Soo…would you want to go out with me?” Eren gives him a shy smile and waits for Jean to respond.

The blush on Jean’s face deepens and spreads to his ears.

“You being serious right now?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t serious.” His smile widens minutely.

Jean scratches his cheek attempting to keep his grin at bay. “Ok.”

\- - -

The beginning was kind of awkward, and Eren fully blames Jean for that. Jean would say the opposite.

Eren was Jean’s first “serious” relationship with a guy. He had one girlfriend in high school he dated for half a year but that relationship only made Jean realize that he wasn’t all the interested in girls. He didn’t come out to his parents until winter break of his freshman year of college. After that he went out with a few guys, a couple dinners and movies but nothing went over a month, and there were fewer guys he got physical with but he found that aspect easier than actually dating someone romantically. But Eren was different.

He’s been drawn to Eren since the beginning when they first met. Always paying attention to him even when he thought he was being obnoxious. Now, Eren was paying attention to him.

It took some getting use to having Eren actually be affectionate towards him. Leaning on him when they watched movies on Eren’s couch. Twining their fingers together lightly as they walked side by side. Kissing his cheek just because he could and to watch Jean’s blush flare across his face.

Once he got past that in the first few weeks, it got better, smoother. Then it was Eren’s turn to get flustered when Jean initiated rather intimate moments, revealing a more dominant and confident personality that could wring out breathy whispers of Eren’s native tongue. 

\- - -

Eren was introduced to Jean’s parents over Skype that winter break. It wasn’t planned. Jean’s parents came to say goodnight when they were on a call and Jean’s mom can be a little nosy and asked who he was talking to. Eren grinned at the three of them through the screen, watching Jean try to introduce him as the guy he’s dating. Jean’s dad smiled and his mom squealed, positively delighted to meet him. 

\- - -

Three months later and Jean was freaking out. 

He loved Eren. He was fairly sure that was what he was feeling and yet he was scared out of his mind. 

Armin has always been too observant for his own good and saw what Jean was feeling. 

He caught him alone one day and asked, “Do you love him?”

Jean couldn’t lie, not to Armin. “Yeah, I think so.”

“You going to tell him?” 

“I don’t know.” He shrugs and doesn’t meet Armin’s knowing eyes.

“Well,” he starts. “It’s no secret how he feels about you.” 

Jean looks at him then with curiosity.

“You don’t see the way he looks at you?” 

When Jean doesn’t answer, Armin only smiles and goes about his way, leaving Jean to his thoughts.

\- - -

The next week Eren beat him to it. He said “I love you” first.

\- - -

It’s been almost four years since then. Close to three years of falling asleep and waking up in the same bed where they’ve shared many “I love you's” before closing their eyes to sleep.

For the past three years Jean has had no doubt. He knew Eren was going to stick around, he’s a hard person to get rid of. 

Jean knew it was never a matter of _if_. It was _when_. 

And the _when_ is approaching really fast. 

The ring has been hidden away in his winter coat pocket for weeks (five weeks is the exact number). Jean has second guessed every perfect moment until it was too late and the box would stay nestled safely in his pocket. And stayed it has, even now as Jean’s coat hangs in the front closet of his parents’ house. 

It’s Thanksgiving. 

Eren and Jean offered to arrive early at the Kirschtein’s to help prepare the big meal of the day. They sit around sipping their coffees and teas, eating sweet, sticky danishes from the local bakery while basking in the aroma of the turkey cooking in the oven. Less than an twenty minutes goes by before Jean’s mom stands up and beckons Eren to follow her into the kitchen.

The two of them stand in the kitchen for hours preparing the rest of the food for the day. Jean manages to help them by setting the table and making it look presentable for the guests still on their way. Jean’s dad stands in the kitchen, unable to help since his wife won’t let him ever help her in the kitchen, and he only manages to get in the way. Then there’s Jean who keeps sneaking his fingers into the bowls of chopped vegetables to snack on. Eren has to smack his hand away on his next attempt.

“Out.” The brunette points to the living room, indicating where Jean should sit for the time being. 

“Alright, fine.” He leans in to place a quick kiss on Eren’s cheek and manages to grab a piece of carrot off of Eren’s cutting board.

Jean chuckles walking out of the room, looking back at Eren playfully glaring at him. His dad follows him out and sits with him on the couch.

“Looks like we’ve both been banished,” his father says with a smile.

“Yeah, looks like.” Jean eyes the two still in the kitchen over the rim of his coffee mug as he takes a sip.

They sit there for a bit watching the parade on the muted tv, making small comments about each float and just the overall ridiculousness of the entire parade. 

Ringing echoes throughout the room, the house phone breaking the comfortable silence in the house. 

“Sweetheart, could you get that?” Jean’s mother calls out.

“At least she lets me do something.” his father says to Jean.

The older man gets off the couch to answer the phone and takes the call into the hallway, leaving Jean alone on the couch. His eyes stray from the tv, losing interest in the moving images on the screen and fall on the man laughing in the kitchen with his mother. 

Before Eren came around, Jean was always his mother’s kitchen helper, but now he’s been replaced. He smiles fondly at the two of them, and neither of them seem to notice his staring. Jean counts himself extremely lucky. He was graced with parents who have always loved and supported him, even more so when he came out, and over the years he’s seen that love spread to Eren. Jean’s parents absolutely adore Eren. They make the point of saying so every time he comes around. Just watching the way the his parents interact with Eren makes Jean realize that he’s making a good decision.

Jean’s father rounds the corner back into the living room and spots his son on the couch ignoring the tv, completely enamored by whatever he’s looking at in the kitchen. The older man smiles to himself, recognizing the expression on his son’s face, he’s made it many times himself in his lifetime. He sits down on the couch gently, not wanting to startle Jean. The younger turns his head after he sits.

“Everything good?”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re aunt is running a bit late. Forgot something back at the house and had to turn around.”

Jean laughs. “Happens every year.”

“Indeed.” his father agrees.

A minute goes by before Jean’s dad leans in and whispers, “So when are you going to ask him?”

Jean startles and turns his head to stare wide eyed at his father. “Who told you?”

The only ones who know he has a ring is Marco and Armin. Marco went with him for moral support when he bought the ring and Armin really is just too smart for his own good. 

It’s his father’s turn to look surprised and confused. “No one told me anything.”

Jean hangs his head and sighs. He nods for his father to follow him and the two of them carefully step out of the room into the foyer so as to not attract the people’s attention in the kitchen. Jean’s father watches him open the closet where he finds his coat and reaches inside one of the inner pockets. He pulls out a dark grey velvet box and hands it to his dad. The older man opens the box and sees a white gold band with a satin finish nestled into the the black foam. 

His father just looks at the ring for a moment before he shuts the box and hands it back to Jean. 

“That is _very_ nice, Jean,” he says it so sincerely.

Jean fiddles with the box in his hand. “I’ve had it for weeks.” 

His dad furrows his brows, confused.

“I’m nervous.”

The older man keeps his voice low. “Why in the world would you be nervous.”

Jean stares past him to the doorway into the dining room that is connected to the kitchen. He hears Eren’s low voice talking to his mother and her laughing in response. Eren always makes his mother laugh.

He looks back at his father who is patiently waiting for his response. 

“What if he—,” he stops when he sees the look on his dad’s face. It’s the look that suggests he not finish that question.

His dad points to the kitchen. “Look in there. He’s dancing around the kitchen with your mother and you think he’ll say no?” 

Jean looks away at the floor.

“Jean look at me.” Jean does. “I’d have to be blind to not see the way that boy looks at you when you’re not looking. It’s the same way I caught you looking at him just a few moments ago. So trust me, he won’t say no.” 

He pats his son’s shoulder and Jean cracks a tiny smile. His father turns to go back into the living room while Jean hides the ring back in his coat.

He has no intention of asking him today, that is a definite. Jean has never liked the idea of using a holiday as the day to pop the question. He’d much rather make an ordinary day special by asking when the person least expects it. 

Not long after, the first guests arrive. Jean’s dad is still banished to the couch in the living room, his mother and Eren are cleaning up the kitchen and putting food in bowls to keep warm.

His aunt and uncle are the first through the door, followed by his older cousins, their spouses and their children. One cousin has an infant, asleep in his carrier, his other cousin has two children, a girl and a boy, age 6 and 4 respectively. He gets hellos, hugs, kisses and handshakes from everybody that passes through the threshold. 

Eren appears at the end of the hallway, on his way to greet the arrivals. The kids see him first and sprint towards him yelling his name. The young boy gets to him first and Eren effortlessly scoops him up and rests him on his hips as tiny arms wrap around his neck for a hug. The 6 year old clings to his waist, squeezing him tight. The rest of the crew greet Eren enthusiastically, trying to greet him around the children hanging off him. 

The family makes their way into the living room leaving Eren standing in the hallway with the boy in his arms and Jean still standing by the door in mock disbelief.

“I swear, even my family likes you better than me.” 

“Don’t worry,” Eren says. “I still like ya.” 

The brunette winks at Jean before turning around to walk into the living room, removing the boy from his hip.

“Alright kiddo, you’re gettin’ heavy.” 

The little boy giggles and runs after his sister in the dining room.

Over the next hour, more family shows up at the house and everyone greets Eren just like the first guests did. They all treat him like he’s been part of the family for more than the four years they’ve been together, and he wasn’t even introduced to extended family until they’d been dating for about a year.

Jean goes to the kitchen to grab a drink. His mother is in there with her sister prepping the turkey and putting the cut slices on a nice platter. Before he leaves the room, his mom drapes her arm across the back of his shoulders.

“Your father told me. I couldn’t be more happy for you.” she says quietly. “Now you better hurry up and make that boy an official part of the family, you hear me.” 

She lightly pinches his arm and walks away before Jean can even respond. He hears her in the next room announcing that dinner is ready.

\- - -

It’s been almost two weeks since Thanksgiving and Jean has decided that today he is going to bite the bullet. 

Jean walks into their small apartment after a long and boring day at work and calls out to Eren who is already home. Eren calls back with a distracted sounding “hey” and Jean follows his voice deeper into the apartment. On his way he kicks off his shoes, dumps his coat on the back of the couch while he loosens his tie and top button of his shirt and rolls up his sleeves to his elbows. If he’s going to do this, he wants to be at least somewhat comfortable. Before he goes over to Eren he digs around in his coat’s inner pocket for the all too familiar box that has been haunting him for almost two months now. 

He turns into the dining area and Eren is hunched over the table, his head propped up by his hand under his chin, reading his thesis that he’s been working on for months. Right after they graduated with their bachelor’s degree, Eren continued on to get his master’s. Eren had studied international business in undergrad and now he’s in the process of getting his master’s in German. He was borderline fluent in the language when he started, so it wasn’t that hard of a work load for him. But Jean has seen the stress take it’s toll on his partner. At the moment Eren looks exhausted, his eyes glazed over from having to read his twenty-two paged paper for the umpteenth time.

“How long have you been working on that?” Jean asks when he’s right behind Eren.

The brunette sighs. “I don’t know. I lost count after five hours.”

Eren sits up a straighter, and runs his hands down his face and then through his hair, making it even more of a mess. Jean smiles at him even though he can’t see him. He really does love this boy.

Jean leans down to hug Eren’s shoulders from behind and kisses his cheek.

“How about a little break?” he says right into Eren’s ear, placing the open box on top of his thesis paper in front of him.

Eren freezes. “Holy shit,” he breathes.

Jean shifts to kneel beside his chair and Eren jerks back causing the legs to screech against the floor. 

“Oh my god.” Eren covers his mouth but Jean can tell by the height of his cheeks that he’s smiling.

Jean grins back at him. 

“Eren Jaeger.”

The brunette lets a giggle escape past his hand and Jean laughs lightly with him as he continues.

“Will you marry me?”

Before he even finishes the question Eren is nodding his head.

“Yea—yes!” 

He practically launches out of the chair at Jean to hug him tight and kiss every part of him that his lips can reach until they find their way to Jean’s. The blonde pulls back and reaches for the box still sitting on the table top.

“Can I slide this thing on now?”

Eren is quick to nod again, wiping a stray tear from his eye with his right hand while he holds out his left for Jean. The ring slides on with ease, just a hair too big for Eren’s finger but they can worry about that later. Eren inspects the ring once it’s on his finger then grabs Jean to kiss him again. 

Jean can’t help the smile that tugs on his lips when he feels the cool metal warming against the skin of his cheek.

\- - -

Jean’s father is sitting in the living room reading his old fashioned newspaper when he hears his wife scream in the kitchen. He races to the other room, heart beating fast in his chest.

“What’s wrong?” 

Jean’s mom is smiling down at the phone in her hands and turns the screen to show her husband. It’s a text from Jean.

**J: He said yes!**

And attached is an image of Eren, hiding his face, embarrassed, holding up his left hand to show off the ring.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading my silly, fluffy fic. :)
> 
>  
> 
> *Side note*  
> For those that are waiting for the next chapter of my other fic, Traffic Colors, hang in there! I haven't forgotten or abandoned it, I'm just stuck but I'm slowly working on it. Life and other projects got in the way first and I think stepping away for a bit hurt me more than it helped me this time. Please be patient. I promise to post something as soon as it's done!


End file.
